Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Part 5 the inside skinny on the Century Stove ceramic board insulation clean burn modification, part 5

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-2NuTN_Yzs

part 4 with previous parts linked there 

Fascinating!! Wow - you suddenly inspired me to up the ante. I was gonna just fall back on the ceramic fiber board on top of the steel baffle - to radiate the heat back down. But since your burn chamber is smaller than I expected - 6 inch x 16 inch - that means maybe I could try this out. I have a 11 x 18 burn chamber. So that would mean - I see what you mean about the 6 inch flue rocket effect. Fascinating. Yeah I had to look up the boiler tube deal. "Boiler Tubes are metal tubes located inside of boilers that heat water in order to produce steam. There are two major types of tube boilers: water-tube boilers and fire-tube boilers. In water-tube boilers, water circulates inside the tubes and is heated externally by hot gases generated by the furnace." Wow - fascinating. So I don't think I've seen that - you'd have them inside the stove and then have the water circulate back out? Kind of like an outside wood boiler? hmm. Anyway - the pdf on that Century Stove says "The baffle is made of vermiculite compressed with a binder to form a rigid board." So not sure if that is what you meant by the "fire brick" in the back on top of the steel baffle? "The firebrick is made of pumice, a volcanic rock, and cement." Looks like they made their own firebrick? Maybe tried to make it more insulating. The whole loading it every hour and not getting enough thermal mass - is an issue. I think you mean that after burning for a few hours then you get enough thermal mass to last all night to keep it above freezing? That's pretty impressive for a clean burn - compared to as you say - turning it down for a long dirty burn.
Thanks again for the clarification. So you have insulation above the baffle but not below it - except for that beginning lip edge that takes the brunt of the heat in the back. THAT is the fascinating bit - because I know my stove glows red in the back by the collar exhaust - as the draw is faster there. So I'll see what happens. I ordered a welded duct pipe for my 30 degree off the stove - so that that crimped pipe doesn't pop open - even though I have the connections drilled together.
The other thing is that I have a bed too close to my stove to handle that 1200 F. heat off the front of the stove. So I'll probably just stick with the basic ceramic fiber baffle on top - to radiate the heat back into the fire. That should increase the heat efficiency for a cleaner burn by 50%. Not nearly as good as your clean burn scenario with the heat exchanger. I got those crimped heat exchangers and a fan.
I think also with less insulation then you get the heat radiating - for immediate heat - without the front being too hot - for me with close quarters. So then I have brick around the outside of the stove to absorb the heat. Maybe I'll insulate just the BACK wall of the stove also so that my big pot of water doesn't over boil for the thermal mass. ... and then close off the back baffle opening - to force the smoke back to the front. That's what the Regenency baffle also does - like that Century baffle.
If you have the FW2800 - as it looks like - there is no steel baffle underneath that vermiculite. Rather it's just the secondary air tubes underneath the vermiculite baffle. So maybe you put in a steel baffle as part of your modification.
So my baffle doesn't go that far forward but since the fire box is 11 inch without the baffle - and the baffle is low - so probably only 6 inch firebox where the baffle is already. That means I'd had to make the insulated firebox in front of the baffle and open up the smoke exhaust. So that would be not a big enough burn chamber - you have 6 x 16. Yeah there's just not enough room for the wood stove I have to put in enough insulation. I'll try put it in the back and force the smoke to the front - and put the baffle all the way to the back as the ceramic fiber - to take that extra heat and then force the smoke. It will burn out the steel baffle over a couple years probably but that's o.k. And then the sides can radiate heat to the fire brick for thermal mass outside the stove. - and the water on top will not over boil.

So it will be a good compromise I think. Thanks again.

 

 

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